Paint the Seconds
by Josiyx
Summary: Olette had insisted they get their pictures drawn by the new girl. Hayner had figured that was all there was to it. He hadn't been expecting anything more. AU, Hayner/Namine


**Author's Notes**: I believe I need to confess that _Original Replicas_ isn't going to be updated for at least six more months. My old computer and notebook are both on the other side of the country. Inside them, the story is about eighty percent complete, but I can't get the information. Instead, this is me pacifying the few people reading it- you're special!- and my own urge to write the pairing.

**Summary**: Olette had insisted they get their pictures drawn by the new girl. Hayner had figured that was all there was to it. He hadn't been expecting anything more. [AU, Hayner/Namine]

* * *

_Half-asleep in his chair, Hayner had thought she was a ghost at first._

Not a terrible observation on his part. Wearing a white sweater and skirt, and with pale blonde hair and sky blue eyes, the new girl could easily pass as one of the dead. It was certainly a stark contrast to the vibrantly coloured outfits the other girls were wearing. It was in fashion to be wearing bright colours, according to the glossy magazines Olette always seemed to pull out when the conversation turned to the current sport rankings. The white was different, looking like a failed attempt to blend in.

Certainly, it had captured the boy's attention, Hayner's head lifting from the wooden desk to look forward at the curious creature. With the attention of two dozen high school juniors staring, the girl was shrinking into her clothes, even as the teacher introduced her. "As you can see, we have a new student. This is Naminé. She's new to the city, so please be helpful to her," he tossed out, motioning to an empty seat near the front, where the people who cared about their marks tended to sit. Right beside Olette, who was bouncing in her seat, eager to make a new friend. Typical.

Timidly, the new girl walked forward, nearly collapsing under the weight of her bag as she did. An awfully large bag, Hayner noticed vaguely, head lowering itself back to the desk, for a first day. Whatever was in it was none of his business of course. Maybe it would be something interesting. A struggle bat or maybe a miniature dinosaur. A dragon egg possibly, or maybe a giant bag of pretzels. Something that would make his otherwise boring day a lot more fascinating.

When she sat down though, all that emerged was a notebook and pen. Boring and normal, Hayner figured, burrowing his spiked hair into the shoulder of the hoodie he was wearing against the autumn chill. Obviously the new girl wasn't going to provide any new entertaining to their boring first period. Not for him anyways. Olette's voice cut across the chatter of the homeroom, exclaiming over sharing the same classes, the new girl- Naminé's schedule already in her hand. Great. If there was anything interesting about the pale blonde, he'd know by the end of the day.

_By lunch, all Olette knew was that Naminé was from the other side of the country and incredibly shy._

As if it hadn't been obvious. The former of course, they hadn't known before, by the latter seemed obvious in every motion the girl took. Hayner couldn't understand how someone who simply stared at her feet as she whispered a greeting could possibly seem outgoing. Since they'd grabbed chairs and Roxas had come over with his brother, Axel and a deck of cards, the blond teen had been tuning out Olette's fruitless comments, instead being drawn into a complex game of president, made worse by the cheating it tended to incur. They'd just finished their second round due to a hotly argued move from Axel, when the brunette girl burst into a loud enough exclamation that it destroyed Hayner's white noise barrier.

"You draw?" Olette was gushing, shocked by the revelation even as she leaned over the all-white wearing girl's shoulder at the sketchbook in her hands. The result seemed predictable, Hayner figured, shuffling the cards. Based on her earlier moves, it was pretty obvious what the girl would do. He expected some sort of demur response, denying whatever the girl was drawing's existence. Instead, the petite blonde raised her voice to an audible level for the first time that day. "Yes."

Pausing in dealing the playing cards, Hayner glanced over along with the other players, as Olette examined the small sketchbook. Snatching was a habit of hers that had been around since they'd all been in diapers, one that had never been curbed enough. Her eyes widened as she flipped through the pages excitedly. "These are really excellent Naminé."

Getting up from the far side of the table, the red head of their group walked over, bending his impossibly slender figure down to look at the art. "Hate to admit it, but she's right. Princess, looks like you're a bit of an artist."

Figuring Axel's approval, normally limited to acts of destruction and whatever Roxas had decided to attempt, meant that the art was sincerely well done, the other clamoured over, each tossing out a few words of approval. They were like kids in a candy store as they flicked through the pages each attempting to sound more intelligent than the speaker before. Olette stood her own, taking it away from the crowd of four around her, the blond boy still sitting stubbornly.

"They're just pictures," Hayner added in, flinching slightly at the accusing glares he received from the others. Truthfully, he could understand why everyone was so intrigued. The previously boring new girl now had something about her that was fresh and interesting. Rather than just being the silent, shy type, Naminé was now the shy, silent type with talent. It made her that much more fascinating to them all, even as they began to retreat to their seats, put off by Hayner's outburst.

Resuming their card game, the boys played silently for a moment, leaving the petite blonde girl to carefully retract her sketchbook from Olette's grasp and begin a sketch on a fresh page. The silence lasted only a moment before both Sora and Roxas began yelling accusations at Axel of cheating and Olette piped up about a sushi place they'd all tried before, trying to reengage Naminé in a conversation.

_Saturday mornings were a sacred sort of personal time._

It was a sort of undisputed law in their group that until noon on Saturday, everyone did their own thing. Olette babysat her younger brother. Pence watched cartoons. What the others did, Hayner wasn't sure. His were spent out in the sun before it failed to thaw out the cold, jogging down the streets of Twilight Town. Training was what he referred to it when the others asked. Really, he just enjoyed the time before everyone went outside for the day, simply absorbing the sights and sounds of the world around him.

Put like that, though, it sounded too feminine. The same sort of romantic phrasing Pence used over a new processor or gadget. Not something Hayner thought suited him anyways. His emotions tended to keep to a specific set- hungry, tired, bored, angry and happy. They didn't get complicated, except occasionally on his runs. Only then did the sensory world seem to wrap him up into an explosion of thought over the world. Thoughts about everything from what he wanted for lunch, to questioning the purpose of his own existence. It was his own time, and Hayner hated the idea of sharing that magical period with anyone else.

Rounding off around the forest, Hayner headed back in the direction of downtown and his house. Already he'd passed the train station, stopping long enough to get a drink of water before heading off again, rushing along the edges of the woods. There was more to Twilight beyond them, but it was private property, a mansion that was very much invite only, not matter the day or reason. Instead, Hayner preferred the still unpopulated park area around it, filled with trees and birds and-

Holes. Wincing as his foot got caught in the edge of a small animal tunnel, Hayner flew forward, landing on his face without any grace at all. The pain, while frustrating, didn't bother him too much, compare to the dig into his pride. Luckily he'd always chosen the mornings for a reason, his head whipping up to make sure no one had in fact seen. Pratfalls were funny if it was someone else, but if he'd been seen, the ridicule would fall to him.

"Are you okay?" a soft voice asked, causing Hayner to whip around, only to be staring into a pair of sky blue eyes. Of course, it was the new girl, kitted out in light blue jeans and another white shirt. In the three days since she'd arrived, it was the most he'd heard her say at once, but he was too distracted to marvel at that fact.

Rising fully to his feet, Hayner bobbed his head rapidly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Did you think a little hole like that would stop me?"

Seeming to take her time absorbing his speech and hand flying around to cover his embarrassment, Naminé nodded back, turning her head away from him and looking across the woods to the slight clearing at the far end of the path. Finally, turning her head back to look at him, she replied. "No. I suppose not."

The silence that followed her answer extended a long moment, the male of the two shifting between his feet awkwardly. Hopefully she wouldn't mention what had happened to the others, but outright asking seemed more demeaning to his dignity than the fall itself. Instead, he looked away himself, speaking again. "So, what are you doing here?"

Brash as ever with his thoughts, Hayner only realized the crudity of the question when the pale girl shrugged lightly, eyes looking around her curiously. "Exploring," she responded, a brief smile touching her mouth.

"Do you want any company?" he offered up, hoping to offer his skills as a tour guide as bribery to keep her quiet about the earlier incident.

"No, thank you," Naminé responded, head averted away towards the woods again. Following her gaze, Hayner could see nothing out of the ordinary. Then again, he'd lived here his whole life. Something particularly interesting to an outsider would be mundane for him. "You have plans with Olette?"

"I forgot!" The tacked on information, probably retrieved during one of the many one sided conversations the brunette had started, caused him to check his watch in a rush. It wasn't as late as he'd worried, the extra time being shorter than the silence had made it seem. "Agh, she's going to be so angry!" he moaned, taking care to step away from the tunnel in the ground before dashing off.

"Another time then!" he called out over his shoulder, doubting the girl could even hear as he sprinted towards the town, eyes frantic over the lateness. Stumbling slightly over a small mound of dirt, Hayner was gone before he could hear the pale blonde's response.

_Okay._

_

* * *

_

I'd hint at what's going to happen in the next chapter, but I honestly don't know! Leave some concrit, since this is a first draft, and I'll see you all soon!

- Josiy x


End file.
